Practice

for football officially could have begun Monday, but it

didn't. Not around here anyway.

Some of the

local high school teams, like Fayette County and Starr's

Mill, will head out of town to camp next week. As for

McIntosh and Sandy Creek, they will have their practices

next week in the afternoon. All of the teams are eager to

prove their mettle, though. They all want to fare better

than last year.

The Fayette

County Tigers had a lift-a-thon Monday night and strength

and conditioning certainly couldn't hurt. Last year, a

most unfortunate injury happened at the most inopportune

time. Wes Clark, their main running back, was injured

before Fayette faced their main opponents.

The Tigers

have lost a number of starters to graduation, but they

should be deep enough to win another county championship.

In fact, they will have 19 seniors on the team this year,

compared to last year's 11. The problem is that

quarterback Gerald Johnson, his main target Brandon Croft

and big guys Josh Sauls and Aaron Lusk are gone. The

Tigers are in 4-AAAA and some of their opponents are

entirely too strong. Fayette County should open with a

win though when they host Paulding County Sept. 3.

McIntosh

doesn't have to worry about it too much longer. After

this season, they will be playing in AAA and the slate

will be symbolically clean at the beginning of a new

century. The Chiefs have had talented players in the

past, but they have failed to gel enough as a team to

squeak out any extraordinary wins. Their defense was

decent last year, but the offense sputtered from time to

time. Dion Stokes and Kelechukwu Oparah have both

graduated and the Chiefs' schedule doesn't make their

season any easier.

The Chiefs

open at Pebblebrook Sept. 3.

As for our

AAA teams, the one to watch will be Starr's Mill. Not

only do the Panthers return the whole team, but the team

progressed solidly game to game and shocked Forest Park

in the final game of last season. Brad McClaren should be

an even stronger quarterback this season while Reuben

Houston won a state championship in track in the spring

and may want to prove that speed is there on the gridiron

as well. Starr's Mill opens the season by hosting

Riverdale Sept. 3. Look for them to make a statement.

Sandy Creek

did not have a great year last year. There were injuries

to key players and there were heartbreaking last-minute

losses. The Patriots hope that this year will be entirely

different and so far, they are off to a good start. They

have a new coach in Rodney Walker, Eric Frazier is back

from his leg injury, and the team is ready to erase the

painful memories of last year. Sandy Creek opens the

season by hosting Morrow.

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